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Friday, July 31, 2015

Shweta Patil

"My name is Shweta Patil and I live in Mumbai, India. I’m a graphic
designer who's extremely passionate about photography. For me,
photography started out as a tool for self discovery. I do quite a lot
of self portraiture because I find it therapeutic."

"I have been photographing for 4 years now. My interest in photography really came about when I bumped into the magical world of Flickr! I must have spent an entire week just going through people’s photo streams until I finally made my own account. I didn’t have a DSLR back then, but my 5mp camera was enough for me to start clicking.

I have always been creative and finding photography as a way to express my thoughts has immensely helped me become the person I am today."

"I photograph because it makes me happy. I realized soon enough that photography is not only a way to express what I feel but it is also a way to capture the stories of other people, places and things. And this made fall in love with photography even more.

Also, since I started photographing, my love for traveling and writing grew immensely and these are the other two things that make me extremely happy.Presently, I don’t wish to make photography as my career. It’s something I’m passionate about and there’s a lot I still have to explore! This decision could change in the future but for now I just wish to meet a lot of amazing photographers, collaborate with them and never stop learning."

"The most important part of my work to me is the reaction I get it from it.
I want my work to silently inspire people. As a teenager, I used to
think that I was the only one going through a certain kind of bad phase
and hence I would not speak about it to anyone. But then I would come
across stories on the internet which I could relate to and would realize
I’m not the only one. Knowing that would make me feel a lot more
positive and that’s the kind of connection I want to give to people. I
want them to know that they’re not the only one. That’s the reaction I
hope to get."

"I shoot with a Canon 550d. I recently got a Zenith film camera but I have yet to explore it completely."

"Creative block is a phase
which I try to break out of by sleeping! It usually works for me. After I
get up, I feel a lot better and fresh. But I can’t always do that, so
the other times I watch my favourite parts of The Secret Life of Walter
Mitty. Or read positive quotes. Also, going through the works of amazing
artists on Flickr, Instagram and Tumblr, help me a lot to break out of a
creative block."

"The hand series started out with one casual hand shot but grew into
something more meaningful. When I started with photography, I was
struggling through a lot of insecurities and trying so hard to make
sense of who I am. Each of the hand shot talks about that phase of mine -
whether it was the dreams I couldn’t achieve, the sadness I couldn’t
bear at times, the feeling that I was constantly being misunderstood, my
false understanding of beauty or my strong will power. I would never
share any these struggles with anyone. Using just my hands in the photos
makes it more of a 'silent language' which expresses that phase of my
life aptly."

"There are a lot of things that
inspire me. Music certainly is one of the main things and there are a
lot of songs with beautiful lyrics that have inspired me for years.
Billy Joel’s Vienna would be one of my biggest inspiration. Light
inspires me. I forever want to capture it. Day to day life experiences
and the people in my life inspire me a lot too. The vast amount of
emotions one can feel, is something that I find so beautiful and is a
never ending source of inspiration."